Hungaroring 2014
Hungaroring 2014 was the third race meeting of the 2014 DTM Season, and the first race held outside of Germany.'THE 2014 DTM RACES AT A GLANCE', dtm.com, (ITR e.V., 2014), http://www.ww.dtm.com/en/Races/DTM-Dates-2014/calendar.html, (Accessed 19/05/2015) The Hungaroring played host to the race, which was held on the 1st of June. Youngster Marco Wittmann claimed his second victory of the season, establishing himself in the lead of the Championship.'Sovereign victory in Hungary for BMW driver Marco Wittmann', dtm.com, (ITR e.V., 01/05/2014), http://www.dtm.com/de/news/souver-ner-sieg-ungarn-f-r-bmw-pilot-marco-wittmann-2014-06-01.html, (Accessed 19/05/2015) Wittmann won from pole position, and was largely untroubled by fellow podium finishers Miguel Molina and Bruno Spengler, as Mercedes, once again, failed to score any points in the race. Background Mike Rockenfeller came to Hungary with the lead of the Championship, ahead of the two men who won their maiden DTM races in Hockenheim and Oschersleben. Behind Christian Vietoris, who took a shock victory for Mercedes last time out, and Wittmann was , with Adrien Tambay completing the top five. Team Phoenix led the way in the Teams' Championship with 38 points, one ahead of Team HWA after Oschersleben. BMW Team RMG were the best placed on the BMW backed teams, behind the two Abt Audi teams of Team Abt and Abt Sportsline. Three teams had failed to pick up a single point all season, with Team Rosberg the most significant of those yet to score. Audi had snatched the lead of the Manufacturers'/Brands' Championship in Oschersleben, taking over from BMW. Mercedes-Benz took their first points of the season last time out, although trailed BMW by over 20 points. Entries Below is the entry list for the : Qualifying A dry Hungaroring greeted the DTM paddock on Saturday, in what was the first competitive session for the DTM in Hungary since 1988.'Hungaroring: Wittmann leads BMW quail 1-2 at Budapest', crash.net, (Crash Media Group, 31/05/2014), http://www.crash.net/dtm/news/205089/1/wittmann-secures-impressive-budapest-pole.html, (Accessed 19/05/2015) The three part qualifying format was to be used as usual, with Q1 lasting thirteen minutes, Q2 for eleven, and the pole position shootout lasting nine. Q1 Marco Wittmann was the class of the field throughout qualifying, a fact demonstrated immediately in Q1, as he set the only time under 1:37.000 in the session. Two seconds covered the rest of the field, with half of that figure covering the eighteen drivers that made it through. Of note was the fact that five of Mercedes seven entries fell in the first session, although Pascal Wehrlein and Robert Wickens survived. Out went their two team leading Team HWA cars of Gary Paffett and Paul di Resta, the duo of Daniel Juncadella and Vitaly Petrov, and winner last time out, Christian Vietoris. Q2 Wittmann was, once again, the class of the field in Q2, although he was not alone in the 1:36.000s as he had been in Q1. He was joined by team mate Maxime Martin, Augusto Farfus, and Timo Glock at the top of the standings, as BMW dominated the second part of qualifying. Joining that quintet of Munich machinery in the pole position shootout were a trio of Audi's, led by Miguel Molina. Adrien Tambay and were the others to book their places in Q3, as all five of the seven Champions left in qualifying were eliminated. Meanwhile, the top placed Mercedes was to be found in sixteenth, with Wehrlein leading a poor Merc performance. Q3 Once again, making it a hatrick in qualifying, Wittmann claimed pole position with the fastest time in Q3, beating team mate Martin, who had been top of the session standings since it had started, on his last lap. Martin, for his part, dropped to fourth, as Glock made it a BMW 1-2 for the race, with Molina taking third (and, for a change, was allowed to start there). Rookie da Costa again stood out in fifth, ahead of stable mate Farfus, and the final two Audis in Tambay and Muller. The qualifying result stood after scrutineering, the first time this had happened in 2014. Post-Qualifying The results of qualifying for race two are shown below. Race A dry, but cloudy day welcomed the DTM field on Sunday, with some forecasting storms, or rain at the very least, at some point during the race. Yet, the circuit was over 30C in temperature, above the preferred minimum temperature for the soft Hankook tyres, and the sun was emerging as the grid completed their formation lap. Report Wittmann got the cleanest start of the lost, pulling clearly ahead as Augusto Farfus went backwards. Timo Glock snuck into second, while claimed third, ahead of Bruno Spengler, up from ninth on the grid. As the pack came through turn two, Gary Paffett was effectively removed from the race, receiving a whack from Joey Hand that broke his rear suspension. In fairness to Hand (which was not in Paffett's thoughts immediately after the incident), there was little the American driver could do, having himself been hit run into by Christian Vietoris. Neither Hand nor Vietoris were found to be at fault in the incident, as Wittmann streaked ahead of Glock and da Costa at the front of the field. Miguel Molina and Edoardo Mortara, meanwhile, had broken into the BMW quartet that led the race, both pushing past Spengler in short order, as the rest of the soft shod cars made their way through the pack. Mike Rockenfeller was the next to get past Spengler's hard hampered BMW, with the Canadian's countryman Robert Wickens, from seventeenth on the grid, taking seventh from him on lap five. Timo Scheider and Martin Tomczyk were in a constant dogfight with each other as they came up through the field, dragging Paul di Resta in their wake as they caught and passed Spengler on lap nine. Yet, it was not too long before their battle took its toll, as Scheider suffered a suspension failure coming into the chicane at the back of the circuit, causing him to retire on lap twelve. Moments after that incident, di Resta was overtaken by Hand, while Mortara followed Molina past da Costa for fourth. By this stage the pitlane had already opened (and would stay open from lap fourteen until lap twenty seven), with BMW Team RBM opting to bring both of their drivers in. This was bad news for Farfus, with the team unprepared for his arrivale, leaving him with only two wheels on his wagon for a vital few seconds. He carried on, heavily delayed, as the rest of the field, led by da Costa, took that as the signal to swap their tyres. The stops themselves saw Molina get into second, jumping Glock outright, although he was powerless to catch Wittmann, who continued after his stop in imperious fashion. Mortara was another to gain from the stops, now placed right on the tail of Glock as they got heat into their new tyres. Glock then took offense to a physical manoeuvre by the Italian into the first corner, although Glock was as much at fault, moving across the braking zone into Mortara's path. Theirs was a fight that was brewing, however, as Spengler, having dropped out of the top ten altogether on the hard tyres, despite his start, began to carve his way up the order on his fresh set of softs. Mortara allowed Glock to repass him after Team Abt asked him to in order to avoid a potential penalty, although he was back past the BMW within a lap, but was unable to pull away. Further back, set the fastest lap of the race as dark clouds gathered overhead on lap 27. Tomczyk, meanwhile, was forced to hand Maxime Martin his ninth place after a good move by the Belgian at the hairpin, while Wickens began to tumble out of the top ten after his early promise. Spengler, by this stage, was the fastest man on the circuit, catching Mortara and co (as Mike Rockenfeller set his sights on da Costa for fifth) passing Rockenfeller and da Costa in short order, In his wake came Muller and Jamie Green in the Team Rosberg cars, as Glock attacked Mortara for third. His attack was fruitless, howver, and effectively meant he ceded fourth to Spengler, who then made short work of Mortara to take third, setting off after Molina. In the closing stages, Martin caught and passed Rockenfeller, a move that allowed Adrien Tambay another on a soft assisted charge, and Muller to get through at the chicane. da Costa then fell to the trio in short order through the final sector, as the race entered its penultimate lap. Martin then proceeded to take Glock, before latching onto the back of Mortara for fourth, as Tambay pushed his Audi RS5 DTM to the limit to also get past the ex-F1 racer. He did so at the chicane, although Glock did his best to force him into the grass on the outside of the circuit. Muller was next up to take Glock, and opted to try a move round the outside of turn one on the final lap. It was not the best move Muller could have made, with Glock running into the back of him and causing the Swiss to spin, right into the German's rear left tyre. Green profitted the most, using the incident ahead to get past Rockenfeller, while Glock limped home with a puncture. Mortara's defence, meanwhile, allowed Tambay to take Martin's fifth place away off-camera, with order remaining unchanged as they battled to the finish line. It was a faultless drive, however, by race winner Wittmann, who held a six second margin over Molina for most of the second half of the race. Spengler was an impressive third, while the last lap drama saw Green leap into seventh, while da Costa fended off Rockenfeller and for eighth, the latter snatching ninth from Rocky at the chicane. Wickens ended the day in eleventh as best of the Mercedes, with Muller recovering to twelfth, while Glock ended the race last and in the pits. Results The second race final result is displayed below: Milestones Standings Marco Wittmann therefore left at the top of the Championship, and with a healthy 19 point lead over Mike Rockenfeller. Edoardo Mortara was now third, overtaking team mate Adrien Tambay (who stayed fifth) and Christian Vietoris, although Miguel Molina was the man on the move, leaping up seven places to fourth. Joey Hand was the last of those drivers to have scored a point, down in eighteenth. BMW Team RMG led the way in the Teams' Championship, with Maxime Martin's first points of his DTM career giving them a five point margin over Team Abt. Abt Sportsline and Team Phoenix proceeded the first of the HWA teams, on a weekend where, once again, Mercedes failed to score a single point. Audi, meanwhile, saw their gap at the top of the Manufacturers standings increase marginally. Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown. References Videos and Images: * References: Category:Races Category:2014 Races Category:Hungaroring